an aggregate of all things Johnson

So, I know I am a bit behind on writing about the Oscars…. I actually watched a good amount of the Academy Awards this year and I really thought all of the actresses looked super-great, so I had planned on doing a fairly extensive blog post about my faves. Then, my computer totally died. Magically, Travis was able to revive it and I actually got some work done today! Yay! I was going to forget about my red carpet post all together, but I noticed that many of my picks for best dressed have been landing on the worst dressed lists across the web… so I wanted to show my support! ha!

My favorite dresses from the Academy Awards (that I saw):

I want reiterate that I really thought everyone looked superb – they are movie stars, after all – but I especially loved these dresses. I am drawn to things that are unique… classic is always beautiful, but a little boring.

• The first dress is Givenchy worn by Zoe Saldana. I just think it is awesome. She looks so beautiful in purple and I love that it has sparkle and a lot of flair. This was my very favorite dress!
• The second is Sarah Jessica Parker, of course, in Chanel. Lots of people did not like this dress, but I thought it was unique and pretty. I like that SJP takes risks. Now, her hair, on the other hand, I did not love…
• The third is an Elie Saab dress worn by Rachel McAdams. I think it is so fun and young, but still really elegant. It looks like a dress you would wear to have a good time at the event – not be the very fanciest. It is unpretentious glamour. (Is that an oxymoron?)

What were your favorites of the night? Any red carpet looks you really disliked?

When we ventured out to Soho on Saturday, one of my intended stops was the Kate Spade flagship store on Broome St. I had heard about a cool neon tape art installation by Rebecca Ward and wanted to check it out in person. Rebecca Ward is an installation artist who creates colorful, site-specific environments using mostly tape. (btw: I loved the installation in the store, but it wasn’t as extensive as I had anticipated.) The Kate Spade brand sometimes feels a little too ladylike for my current style, but I have always loved its playful use of color and pretty designs. For a long time, Kate Spade was my very favorite designer, mostly because she is from Kansas City, like me, but also because her designs were always so simple, but unique. It is exciting to see the brand supporting such a hip, young artist in such a public way! In addition to the cool installation, I also loved all of the corresponding displays throughout the store – so beautiful!

After the stop at Kate Spade, Travis and I continued our stroll over the the Madewell store. (my favorite!) I was totally caught off-guard by the awesome airmail-themed windows and displays there.

Vintage airmail envelopes and mail packages were everywhere! I think that they were all reproductions – not actual old letters – but I was still tempted to swipe one to take home… I love anything mail related because it reminds me of Swap-bot. Don’t worry, I didn’t end up stealing any of the envelopes, but I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of the displays. Three cheers for snail mail!

And in a serendipitous turn of events, Gilt Groupe was having a sale on Kate Spade accessories on Monday! With my “free shipping” coupon, I scooped up this airmail-themed cosmetics case at a nearly-free price. I am going to use it to carry my Swap-bot arsenal to crafty events. Who knew that fashion and the postal mail went together so well… Swap-bot is so stylish!

New York City is back on my good side! On Sunday, Travis and I went for a late (really late, like 4 pm) brunch at Penelope Cafe in Murray Hill. (It was very delicious, by the way. I highly recommend it.) Afterward, I thought I should do my blogger duty and pick up some more cupcakes to objectively review for my loyal “NYC Cupcake Review” followers. ha!

Travis and I stopped by the small Crumbs Bake Shop near Union Square and picked up a chocolate coconut and a “Half-baked” cupcake to review. Crumbs is a relatively new bakery that was started in 2003 by a former attorney and now has over a dozen locations, both in New York and LA.

This was not my first taste of Crumbs cupcakes. Travis and I have picked them up at least twice in the past and I also always manage to have one at the museum cafe when I visit the Met. I don’t remember all of the flavors I have tried, but I know that caramel apple, blackout, brownie, vanilla coconut, and carrot are on the list. In the past, I claimed that Crumbs is my favorite cupcake shop in NY, and this review definitely reinforces that!

Crumbs cupcakes are large – about the size of a large muffin – and they come with tons of frosting and fun toppings. The bakery case reminds me of a gelato shop because of all the goodies you find stuck in the mounded frosting. The flavor selection is amazing and overwhelming, and they always have a
“cupcake of the month” that they are featuring. It is hard for me to choose anything other than the chocolate flavors, but every time that I do I am pleasantly surprised. Of course, for this review I went with chocolate!

Both of the flavors we chose were perfectly moist, with light, sweet icing. The chocolate coconut cupcake was simple with chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream frosting, and coconut sprinkled on top. The “Half-Baked” flavor consisted of chocolate cake with a vanilla buttercream filling (yum!), chocolate and cookie dough flavored frostings, and brownie and cookie pieces crumbled on top. So decadent and so delicious!

I tried to avoid giving Crumbs a perfect score, but couldn’t. Everything about the cupcakes was perfect, from the store presentation and the flavor selection to the texture and taste of the cakes. Even the take-out containers are terrific, with separate holders for each cake to keep them from toppling over. The only downside that some people may find is the large size and corresponding price. Each cupcake is $4.50, but they are definitely worth it and are easily large enough for two people to share. Travis and I ate our two cupcakes for dinner and we had a hard time finishing them between the two of us. (Luckily, Travis stepped up and ate the last bits, and he wanted me to add that he thinks these cupcakes are “fantastic.”)

I cannot recommend Crumbs cupcakes highly enough! They are the best cupcakes I have had so far in New York. Yum, yum, yum!

…another “blog”! I have blogs on twitter, tumblr, wordpress and probably a few other places I have forgotten about, so what’s one more?

I took a couple hours today to play around with a few projects I have been watching and wanting to try out. The new blog is hosted on github at http://travisj.github.com. Github is quickly becoming my favorite site on the internet. It is a great place to share code and find cool new projects.

The new blog is built using Jekyll and Compass. You can read more about both of those projects in my introductory post.

For fun, I also added fonts from typekit. I went to school with one of the founders and have been wanting to try out the service for some time. I leave all our design efforts to Rachel, but still had a lot of fun searching through the typekit font library and choosing fonts for the site.

My 29th birthday was last Wednesday and it was a perfect day. It had snowed overnight which meant Travis got to work from home. We started the day with muffins from my favorite bakery, and I spent the day crafting and avoiding email. In the evening, we headed out into the two feet of snow and sleet to get dinner at our favorite, local restaurant, Stone Park Cafe. We went all out with an appetizer, entrees, dessert, and coffee. It was all delicious, and because of the snow, the restaurant was almost empty and very quiet. We sat by the window and watched the snow fall. It was a perfect evening, and it didn’t even end there! I came home and opened too many fabulous presents and cards from my family. Thank you so much to everyone, especially Travis, for making my birthday so special. I know that I am spoiled.